


Love is Fair in the Court of Law

by laughter_is_medicine



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: AU, Comedy, Courtroom AU, Drama, Love/Hate, Multi, Murder, Rivals, Romance, court of law
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-19 23:16:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2406515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughter_is_medicine/pseuds/laughter_is_medicine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beatrice Duke, Prosecuting Attorney, is used to hearing objection after objection whenever she cross examines a witness, but this was taking it too damn far.</p>
<p>It has been only one hour in this murder trial, and Mr. Dickface himself has been a royal pain in her side.</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>Beatrice Duke and Benedick Hobbes are quarreling rivals in the court of law, but outside the courtroom? That's a different story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Objection

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my first NMTD work and thank you for reading! So, without further ado, enjoy!

“Objection, Your Honor.”

 

Fuck.

 

Beatrice Duke, Prosecuting Attorney, is used to hearing objection after objection whenever she cross examines a witness, but this was taking it too damn far.

 

It has been only one hour in this murder trial, and Mr. Dickface himself has been a royal pain in her side.

 

Beatrice Duke turned on her heels and marched toward the lanky, British Defense Attorney who had the nerve to interrupt her flawless questioning for the third time in a row in under three minutes. 

 

She glared at him and promptly spoke up, “Your Honor, permission to approach the bench?”

 

“Permission granted,” the Judge spoke. 

 

Mr. Benedick Hobbes buttoned his suit coat and approached the bench with Beatrice Duke on his right.

 

“Your Honor, this is ridiculous, Mr. Hobbes has barely let me even question his witness due to his incessant objections that have not been fully explained,” Beatrice tried to say in a whisper tone. Unfortunately, for her, it was a surprise that the whole city didn’t hear her. 

 

Benedick looked to the Judge with admiring eyes, “Your Honor, I have every reason for this objection, you see the piece of evidence which was brought to our attention by Ms. Duke-”

 

“Please make your point Mr. Hobbes,” the Judge stated firmly.

 

“Yes, Your Honor.” Ben cleared his throat while Beatrice stared him down and tapping her foot impatiently.

 

“This evidence has no relevance to this case, if I may continue?” 

 

The Judge adjusted his glasses, “If you make an actual point, Mr. Hobbes, you may continue; if you have no objection, Ms. Duke-”

 

Ben turned away from the Judge to Beatrice and gave her a knowing smirk folding his arms across his chest. 

 

Beatrice sneered, “Of course not, Your Honor, I would _love_ to see how _Mr. Hobbes_ continues with this objection.”

 

“Why thank you, Ms. Duke.” Ben approached his client on the witness stand and Beatrice stomped back to her seat next to her assistant-in-training, Hero Duke. 

 

“This diary, Ms. Leer, has your name in it, correct?” Ben begins to flip through the pages of the diary, reviewing the material. 

 

“I swear, that diary isn’t mine; I’ve never seen that before in my life!” the pale woman pleaded. 

 

“Look, I believe you, this diary is not yours, because it is a forgery!” 

 

Hero looked to Beatrice who was seething in her seat trying to remain calm. Hero could see her hands grasping the edge of her seat, her knuckles turning white.

 

“The handwriting in this diary does not match the witness’ handwriting as you can see Your Honor through these various signed receipts from purchases made by the witness’s credit card.”

 

Ben strode to his briefcase on the table to take out the several different receipts, while watching Beatrice out of the corner of his eyes. He had no idea a person could turn that pale, but it was time for payback. He offered the receipts to the Judge along with the diary. He leaned back in his brown leather chair, examined the evidence, nodded, and took off his glasses. He motioned for Beatrice to look at the evidence herself. She calmly rose from her seat and walked to the bench to examine the evidence.

 

Shit. 

 

She had to admit the two were very similar except for a few minor errors in the diary that were not consistent on the receipts. She nodded at the Judge, walked to Hero and slumped solemnly in her chair. 

 

“Members of the Jury, please ignore this diary as presented by Ms. Duke as evidence,” the Judge spoke.

 

Beatrice beamed from her seat, “Your Honor, may we have a 10 minute recess?”

 

The Judge checked his watch, “Well it is almost noon; we will have a one hour recess and return at one.” He banged his gavel, and the court rose as the Judge left to his chambers. 

 

“Hero, let’s go.” Beatrice gathered her things and left the courtroom, phone in hand about to make several calls. Hero followed her immediately, but not before showing a quick smile to Mr. Hobbes assistant, Claudio, who smiled back.

 

Hero would have loved to talk to him, but she knew that Beatrice would kill her if she knew she was talking to “the advocate to the devil in disguise,” Beatrice’s words not Hero’s of course. 

 

Hero saw Beatrice, talking on her phone, in the lobby and stood by her side. 

 

“No, get HIM on the phone! I mean I would like to know who the fuck gave me that shit evidence and I also want Meg to contact me when she finds something I can actually use in a court of law!” Beatrice groaned and hung up the phone. 

 

Hero cleared her throat, “Would you like-”

 

“What I would fucking like is for someone to give me good evidence so I can do my fucking job. You know what I don’t want Hero?”

 

Hero wasn’t sure if this was rhetorical or an actual question, so she just shook her head to be on the safe side.

 

“I would not like to be handed some evidence from a claimed “handwriting expert” who is as much of an expert as the man camping out in the back alley of my apartment building who “claims” he is a licensed doctor offering free fucking checkups.”

 

Beatrice took an inhale and exhale. Hero was frozen, not knowing what to do next. She spotted Benedick and Claudio coming right their way. 

 

“Um, Bea? You might want to turn around.” She pointed to where the two were coming from. Bea spun around and rolled her eyes. 

 

“Oh, fuck me.” She mouthed, but managed to fake a smile.

 

Ben smiled and put his hand on her shoulder, “Great job in there Beatrice, hope you manage to win this case though.” 

 

“Oh don’t worry Benedick, I’m sure you’ll manage to fuck this up without any help from me.”

 

Ben quickly removed his hand and wiped it on his pant leg. 

 

“Well, Claudio, come let’s go to lunch, at least we can enjoy ourselves. See you in court Ms. Duke and - Ms. Duke.” Ben shook his head and left the lobby.

 

“Yeah, well thanks for wasting five minutes of our time!” Beatrice yelled turning her attention to her mobile. 

 

Claudio was going to leave, but he had to talk to Hero. 

 

“Hello, Ms. Duke. How are you?” Claudio managed to speak without embarrassing himself too much.

 

“Fine thank you. Oh, you can call me Hero, Mr--” 

 

“Claudio works with me.” Claudio grinned.

 

Ben came back to the lobby with annoyance, “Yeah, Claudio are you coming or not?” Ben extended both arms in a state of exasperation.

 

“Oh, um, yes Ben, right behind you. I’ll see you later Hero.” Claudio waved goodbye and quickly joined Ben and left. 

 

“Hero,” Beatrice started, who apparently listened to the whole conversation, “Remember what I told you before?”

 

“Oh, well I was just being friendly trying to get any information out of him.” Hero shrugged as if the interaction had no meaning.

 

Beatrice crossed her arms studying Hero, until her phone rang. She picked up immediately. 

 

“Meg! Thank God you called, what have you got for me?” Beatrice paced around the lobby hanging on to everything Meg was saying. Hero just watched in anticipation at her anxious cousin.

 

“I knew it. Yeah, OK. We’ll talk later. Bye.” With that, she hung up the phone overjoyed.

 

Beatrice, what it looked like to Hero, did a fist pump in the air. 

 

“Come on Hero, we’ve got exactly,” Beatrice examined her golden watch on her wrist, “forty minutes to get to the office and back in time to show exactly where Mr. Hobbes can stuff it. Come on!” 

 

Beatrice sprinted for the door excitedly to call a cab and Hero followed her trail, not exactly sure who was going to stuff what where. 

 


	2. The Comeback

Beatrice left the elevator and entered her office on the sixth floor. She opened the glass door and came to her humble office space, a desk at every corner, phones ringing off the hook, and a door leading to her private office. It was just another normal day for the District Attorney.

 

Meg came from behind, “where’s Hero?”

 

Beatrice turned to face Meg. “I told Hero to look into where that diary came from and who sent it.” She looked at her watch. Thirty minutes until the trial would begin again. “She should be back in court now.”

 

Meg nodded, “Bea, I have that file you should take a look at.”

 

Beatrice sighed in relief. “Thank God, because if I had to lose a case to Mr. Hobbes, I would probably resign.”

 

Meg, a bit confused, just rolled her eyes, “No, you wouldn’t.”

 

Beatrice thought it over, “Yeah, you’re right, but I would strongly consider it, since he is the biggest arse to ever practice law and it would be a definite insult to my career. Anyway, what have we got?”

 

Meg, ignoring the fact that Beatrice managed to disapprove of Mr. Benedick Hobbes once again, opened the manila folder to several different photos with the date of the murder and a time on each one. “These are from the night of Ms. Leer’s ‘supposed’ alibi. According to the security camera, she never even checked into the hotel room.”

 

Bea considered this and put her hand to her mouth, “So that hotel manager was lying when he said she signed into the registry, maybe even faked her signature.”

 

Meg nodded as Beatrice continued, “Ms. Leer’s father is the owner of that hotel where she lives, so it is possible that he wanted to save his job. Maybe, he was asked by Mr. Leer to forge her name or else. “

 

Meg added, “So, no alibi. She’s not in any of these photos. From 1 AM forward, she’s unaccounted for.”

 

Beatrice flipped through the different photos, excited to bring this up in court. “Who do we have to thank for these?”

 

Meg took a sip of her coffee and eyed the two detectives sitting outside Beatrice’s office.  “You know the drill.” She handed Beatrice the folder.

 

Beatrice sighed, “Thanks a lot Meg,” she said somewhat sarcastically.

 

Meg smiled “That’s why they call me the queen!”

 

Bea rolled her eyes, “Yeah, no they don’t.”

 

“ _Yet_.” Meg sauntered over to her desk to answer the phone.

 

Beatrice walked to her office to see a blond hair girl, with dark suspenders under her gray pantsuit, rise and elbowing the curly haired detective next to her.

 

_“Oh, dear God.”_ Beatrice thought

 

“Hi, Mrs., I mean, Ms. Duke.” The girl seemed rather flustered like she was meeting the Queen of England.

 

Beatrice put on her smile, “No need to stand, I just wanted to thank you—“ Beatrice stumbled, honestly not knowing the names off the top of her head.

 

“Verges, ma’am,” she then did a little salute until the boy next to her shook his head as a sign to stop.  She quickly put her hand down, slightly embarrassed.

 

“I’m Dogberry, ma’am.” He did a bow and at this point Beatrice was a little freaked out.

 

“ _Right_. Just wanted to thank you for finding these surveillance photos for me. Really appreciate it, you two. At least I can use this in the case.” She didn’t want to be rude, but she really had to prepare for her soon appearance in court.

 

“No, we want to thank you for this opportunity! You know, first time on a case and all that.” Verges smiled eagerly with Dogberry.

 

“Well it was nice to meet you both.“ Beatrice started opening the door to her office. “I really have to get ready for my case so, if you will excuse me?”

 

“Oh, my gosh! I-We are so sorry Ms. Duke, we have to report back to the chief anyway.” Dogberry waved goodbye and motioned to Verges to join him. She nodded and said her goodbye.

 

Beatrice smiled and closed the door to her office. Silence at last. She placed her briefcase on her desk and took her coffee. Benedick Hobbes had no idea what he was in for. He definitely messed with the wrong woman. She smiled to herself and pulled her mobile out, only to see a voicemail she missed.

 

_“Now what?”_ Beatrice thought. She decided to listen to it anyway and paced around her office listening to every word.

 

* * *

 

_Meanwhile, in an office on the other side of the city is a private practice._

Benedick Hobbes entered his office where his assistant, Balthazar Jones, welcomed him.

 

“I am exhausted,” Benedick claimed as he collapsed into his leather chair. “You know, putting down Beatrice Duke is not as easy as it seems.”

 

Balthazar rolled his eyes. This was the only tenth time today Benedick mentioned how “terrible, obnoxious, and mean” Beatrice was. And he did that at least every day.

 

“What happened?” Balthazar questioned trying to sound surprised. He never really met Beatrice Duke, only by her superb reputation, but she couldn’t be as bad as Benedick claimed. Could she?

 

Benedick groaned loosening his tie and taking off his suit coat. “Don’t even get me started. I don’t want to talk about it.” Benedick put his face in his hands and leaned on his desk.

 

Balthazar waited a few moments.

 

“First of all,” Benedick started addressing Balthazar, “she had the nerve to question my objection. And then she used _sarcasm_. Sarcasm Balthazar. You know how I don’t interpret sarcasm well.”

 

Balthazar smiled, “Yeah, you’re really bad at that.”

 

Ben waved his hand in the air. “It doesn’t really matter because I totally won this case. She didn’t know what hit her.” He pointed to his assistant, “She messed with the wrong man.”

 

Balthazar didn’t know what to think at this point, but he was certain that he had to meet this woman who knew exactly how to get under Benedick Hobbes’s skin.

 

“I’m very sure of that, Ben. After this case comes to a close, you have four other clients that have asked for you. I met with them in person, but I think our best bet is to go with Mr. Floyd.”

 

“Ah, yes. He was blamed for trying to kill his wife. Messy stuff.” Ben rubbed his chin in thought.

 

“Right, I’ll get his file for you.” Balthazar opened the door to go to his own office, before Ben stopped him.

 

“Oh, and Balthy?” muttered Ben.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Have someone send for a cup of tea. I need something to relax my temper.”

 

Balthazar smiled, “Sure.” He left the room shaking his head.

 

Benedick leaned back in his seat and folded his hands behind his head. This case was as good as closed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next chapter, which may be up sooner than I expected since I am loving to write this series so far.


	3. The Meeting

It was chaos.  

Beatrice was packing her briefcase in a wild fury to make sure she had absolutely everything she needed to win this case. Sure, the jury still had to make a final decision, but she had the ability to tell whether she won a case or not before the verdict was in. With this case, she knew she had it in the bag. After all, she was always right. There was a knock at the door. Meg came in with a cup of coffee.  She smiled.

"Ready to kick some ass?" She said with a thumb up motion.

Beatrice chuckled and accepted the coffee with a nod. "Only if it's the ass of Mr. Benedick Hobbes, then yes."

Meg restrained herself from laughing and rolled her eyes instead. Beatrice noticed this.

"Look, Meg. I know you haven't met the dickface in person but, trust me, if you knew him you would totally agree with me."

"Then, why haven't I met him?"

Beatrice took a sip of her coffee and squeezed past Meg out of her office with her briefcase. "Mostly because I want to save you the pleasure of meeting him."

Meg gave her a knowing look, "Right. Your cab is downstairs. Good luck!"

Beatrice checked her watch, "Damn, I'll just make it. Don't need luck, Meg. I've got it all in here." She made a motion to her briefcase and ran out of the office to the elevator, almost tripping on her way out. 

Meg stepped outside Bea's office and shut the door. She looked around the office and realized that everyone was gone and out to lunch. She walked to her desk and grabbed her keys and jacket. She was just about to leave when she heard the phone ring. She groaned and went to answer her own phone. When she picked up, it was still ringing. She hung up and opened Bea's office to see her mobile sitting right on her desk.

"Shit." She reached over and answered it, seeing it was Hero.

"Hello?"

There was along pause, "Meg? Sorry, I was expecting Beatrice to answer."

"No, it's fine. She forgot her mobile at the office. I'll bring it right away."

"Oh. Well, I was just calling to make sure Bea was on her way. The trial starts in 20 minutes."

Meg smiled, "she wouldn't be late for the world. She is on her way."

"Ok, great. I'll talk to you later. Are you free tonight for dinner with Beatrice and me?"

"I'll he to adjust things on my calendar, but I will see you tonight."

"At the Candlewaster?"

Meg laughed, "only my favorite restaurant.  Sounds lovely."

Meg heard the glee in Hero's voice. "Great!  See you then."

"Bye, love." Meg hung up the phone and now realized she was going to court.  

 _“Why is it always me?”_ She thought to herself. 

* * *

_Meanwhile, in a yellow taxicab…._

It started to rain, hard.

Beatrice was inside the cab in the backseat, she looked at her watch and was only a short while from court. She peered out the window to see hundreds of people rush past her while the rain fell over the car. Beatrice rested comfortably in her seat and closed her eyes, to finally take a break from her cases, murderers, dickheads, and the impending decision from the jury. However, 30 seconds later, the cab stopped and the driver looked in his rearview mirror.

“Miss, we’re here.”

Beatrice shook her head and regained focus. She opened her eyes and looked out the window to see the familiar sight of the marble courthouse towering over her. She sighed, “ _Well, it was nice while it lasted,”_ she thought.

She smiled and pulled out the money for the fare and handed it to the driver.

“Keep the change,” she said enthusiastically.

The driver smiled, “Yes, ma’am! Feeling lucky today?”

Beatrice nodded and opened the door whilst grabbing her briefcase. “More than ever.”

Bea exited the cab and looked up at the stairs, sighing, and began the gradual climb. She knows that she worked at this building for some odd years, but these stairs would be the death of her. She looked to her feet and continued to climb the steep stairwell, until she opened the glass door and entered to the main lobby with a deep sigh. There were several people pacing around glued to their mobile. Beatrice ran a hand through her hair to dry it from the unexpected rainstorm.

“Beatrice!”

Bea spun around to see Meg coming through the door, soaking wet and panting.

“What the hell-“ Beatrice started, before Meg cut her off.

“You might have forgotten this?” Meg reached out of her bag and pulled out Beatrice’s mobile. Meg handed it over with a knowing look.

“Oh, right. I-uh, thanks!” Bea took the phone and quickly looked to see three missed calls from Hero.

Meg chipped in, ”Hero just wanted to make sure you were on your way and to remind you that the three of us are having dinner at The Candlewaster tonight.”

Beatrice shook her head and smiled, she was about to say something when she heard a familiar voice.

“Come along, Claudio. Only ten minutes to the trial, and we mustn’t keep Miss Du-.” He was looking at his paperwork when he bumped into Beatrice.

“Oh, so sorry miss-“ he looked up and saw Beatrice’s unamused facial expression. “Oh, it’s you.” Benedick managed to spit out.

Beatrice sighed, “Wouldn’t be the first time you managed to run into me. Maybe next time, you would do better to watch where you were going.”

Benedick straightened his suit coat and spoke with annoyance, “Maybe you should do better not to stand in the way where people are walking.”

Beatrice chuckled, “Good use of repeating my last argument to fit to your situation. You should use that in this case.”

“That’s alright, Miss Duke, I don’t need you advice. I’ve already got this case in the bag.”

Beatrice leaned in, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Mr. Hobbes,” she hissed.

Beatrice walked away and Benedick hurried after her to try to think of another argument. Instead, he opened the door for her instead. She shot him an irritated expression but entered the court anyway. Benedick stood there and put his palm to his forehead. He mumbled to himself, “Yes, Benedick, open the door for her. That’s a great insult. Damn it.” He shook his head and followed right after Beatrice.

Meg stood there with her mouth open. That was Benedick? That was the Benedick who was the biggest arse in the world? He was Benedick Hobbes, the stupidest attorney that could ever pass the Bar exam? He was the reason for Beatrice’s constant fits? He was the man she despised more than anyone else?

“Crazy, right?” Meg looked over to see Claudio shaking his head.

“Oh, yeah. Very strange.”

Claudio chuckled, “It’s like they’re meant to be.” Claudio laughed at this and shook his head, “but that would be ridiculous.”

Claudio waved goodbye to Meg and followed the other two into court. Meg turned around and was about to leave, she still hadn’t had her lunch yet, but something pulled her back. She turned right around and marched to the door and opened it. She saw Benedick and Beatrice on mirroring sides of each other. Benedick was at the left table with Claudio on his left and Beatrice was at the right table with Hero at her right. Meg hesitated, but sat in the back of the room at one of the open pews. This was something she had to see to believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was so late. I've been a lot busier than expected. However, I made this chapter longer, so I hope that makes up for my lack of update. Enjoy and please leave any comments!


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